Monday, 29 March 2010

Hawaii Shopping Haul

Here's my collective beauty shopping loot from Hawaii's Sephora, Neiman Marcus, Long's Drugs, Target, DFS Galleria, MAC and Walmart stores. I got the two Paul & Joe makeup pouches at the DFS Galleria while at Sephora, I got a Korres Prep, Prime Perfect set, Bliss Triple Oxygen + C Energizing Cream, Fresh Strawberry Flowers fragrance and Sugar Lemon soap and OPI for Sephora Metro Chic nail polish. At MAC, I got an eyeshadow and two lipsticks from the Liberty collection. As it has been 2.5 years since I last stepped into a Sephora (US) store, the experience was overwhelming in terms of the sheer number of brands available. The Sephora store at Ala Moana Shopping Centre had just started to stock the new Sephora-exclusive Tokidoki line with only the eyeshadow palettes, lipstain markers and eyeliners available. Unfortunately, the travel accessories were not yet available or I would probably have hauled them too. I only picked up the Cromatico Eyeshadow Palette in Diamante as the eyeshadows looked quite average, to be honest. The transparent plastic cube packaging is also a bit too bulky for my liking and the lid is not easy to open. Each palette comes with a charm accessory in the bottom compartment. Question is what should one do with the bottom compartment after removing the charm?! Just across from the Sephora store at Ala Moana is a store called Animation Addict, which carried the Tokidoki line of T-shirts, hoodies and other accessories. NARS Purple Rain nail polish. Snagged this Fresh set which seemed quite worthwhile at US$28 as the Sugar Rose Tinted Lip Treatment usually retails at US$22.50 by itself. The new Philosophy makeup line was also out so I picked up the Color of Grace Amazing Grace Shimmering Face Powder. I was curious to try out Revlon's new Photo Ready foundation and Lancome's Oscillation, both of which get pretty mixed reviews on MakeupAlley and the beauty blogosphere. Philosophy's Supernatural Superbeautiful also found its way into my basket as a paraben-free sheer foundation. The Physicians' Formula Shimmer Strips caught my eye as they looked like a knock-off of Bobbi Brown's Shimmer Brick Eye Palettes. These cost only about US$10 each and come in about a dozen variations. At Walmart, I picked up some of the Hard Candy nail polishes, mascaras and eyeliner. While the line is nicely affordable, the display was picked over quite badly and many of the products looked somewhat cheap. The lipsticks are not even sealed properly. At Neiman Marcus, I got the Chantecaille Les Dauphins and Bengali palettes. Over at Juicy Couture, I found this roll-up flexi keyboard just too cute to resist!

oops i left the comment on the wrong post earlier. i meant to tell you those PF shimmering strips are excellent. i feel they are just as good as Dior IR quints. OK, and that Fresh pack is a good choice too. I love the items inside.

OMG!! AWEMAZING HAUL! I didn't realise that the PF Shimmer Strips look THAT wonderful! And they have new variations?! (POP!) WOWWEEEEE! You really got a wonderful selection there! Almost fell out of my chair in excitement! I think I would have had 3 baskets of goodies had i been in your place - no control whatsoever!

What a haul!! I actually think I like the JC keyboard best but onto the makeup...

I think I am passing on most of the Tokidoki collection :S. The eyeshadow palettes look WAY too bulky, I don't like singles, and the quality seems kind of medium for the pricepoint. I am planning on picking up at least one of the bags and the pink eyeliners (since I still haven't found one I really like yet), and possibly a couple of the glosses just to have the packaging... but based on the swatches I've seen I think I am 'safe' to pass on everything else! I'm hoping the collection will eventually expand to include brushes (other than the giant kabuki).

I might need to try the Shimmer strips but I have so much eyeshadow I find it really overwhelming sometimes... maybe when they are on BOGO :)

Love your haul! Do you pack everything a special way so nothing breaks in your luggage?

I am glad I'm not the only one wondering about the Tokidoki packaging leftover compartment. Have you had a second to try them out yet? I found them more sheer than expected. Please see my blog for full review.